Smart Phones Work?

30 mins left before I go into work. It’s true, I have a busy life. Being a manager at a retail store, freelancing or finding work for graphic design, church activities and finally podcast. Yet here I am, take my phone out and just write.

Some of you know how I decided to just get out of social media. From the giants of twitter, facebook, to my favorites like Tumblr, or even the “popular” ones to chat with, Snapchat. I just decided one day to come to terms with myself, looked into how to remove, gave no fair warning to all my “followers” and friends and poof, erased. Of course nothing is really erased online, I disengaged from the whole field.

Now some can disagree and ask why would I do that? I do get the weird questions and people looking at me weird when they find out I don’t partake in any of that. They even roll their eyes when I try to explain how I feel people aren’t really connecting, jump into conspiracy theories, or even say how and why I believe it is just a major distraction. Yet through it all, it helped me see one of the key fundamental things as a writer in this day and age, smart phones.

Yes, our phones. How can someone who talks so much about disconnected be so “connected”? It is actually quite funny to be honest. My phone has turned into my office and my personal computer all at once. And though people see it negatively I will help those writers who think they don’t have time, find time and also use your phones to the best and most productive way for your writing.

1. Download a writing app:

We all know google docs, word, but the one I personally use is jotterpad. I’m not getting paid to advertise, I wish. But seriously, in this day and age, find an app that works for you and your phone. Don’t have time to sit down on your computer? You carry your phone everywhere you go. So I’ll put the top 4 ways writing can be done on your phone and ways that will improve it.

2. You always have time, if not, make some:

From the ten minutes you are taking a break, to your hour lunch break, waiting for kids to get out of school, on the bus, uber, few minutes before bed. You have to time. Be serious with yourself and learn to commit and prioritize. Do you really want to be called a writer or publish your book? Sacrifice that night out you might get wasted and seriously write. Im not saying drop everything but like I stated before, you have time in between events, with your phone, you can write literally from everywhere and anywhere.

3. Link your phone to a Dropbox or drive online:

Trust me, this right here has for more occasions than most has saved my butt. I could be writing and just save, link, upload and when I have time to sit down in the corner of my room to actually write on my laptop it makes things easier. I feel as if I am never behind and even if I do decide to head out, I could write at a later time and not worry about missing deadlines or work.

4. Don’t become distracted:

This right here is harder for some people. Now this is for writers I’m trying to convey. What I learned was that I don’t really need social media. If people truly cared about you, they would text and call you and vice versa. You actually start to notice who really wants to know about your life and not just see a highlight reel. Besides that, you start to focus on life and become present not watching timelines or sharing silly pictures. Granted you may feel as if you are missing out on peoples lives but the reality is when you meet up, you learn to appreciate all the catching up and building something real with them. Not only all these benefits, when you turn notifications you may not need, little fun games on your phones. It’s good to take a break and relax at times but also don’t get dragged into the world of notifications and wanting to be “liked”. If you are on social media and it works for you, hey, it works for you. You learned how to balance it and not let it control you I hope.

Now learn to do this and apply it with the other 3 and you are golden. Smart phones are actually good for the name. They do make life easier in a bit and it all is a matter of if you know how to use it properly. Be smart about it. Gee signing out, be blessed all.